334 THE BEE keeper's MANUAL. 



man, acquainted with bees, can be so deluded as to imag- 

 ine any thing to the .contrary. But as this is a matter of 

 great practical importance, let us examine it more closely. 



When bees are engaged in rapidly storing up honey in 

 their combs, they may be seen, as soon as they return from 

 the fields, or from the feeding boxes, putting their heads at 

 once into the cells, and disgorging the contents of their 

 " honey-bags." Now that the contents of their sacs under- 

 go no change at all, during the short time that they remain 

 in them, I will not absolutely affirm, because I have endeavor- 

 ed, through this whole treatise, never to assert positively when 

 I had not positive evidence for so doing : but- that they can un- 

 undergo but a, very slight change, must be evident from the 

 fact that when thus stored up, the different kinds of honey or 

 sugar can be almost if not quite as readily distinguished as be- 

 fore they were fed to the bees. The only perceptible 

 change which they appear to undergo in the cells, is to have 

 the large quantity of water evaporated from them, which is 

 added from thoughtlessness, or from the vain expectation 

 that it will be just so much water sold for honey, to the de- 

 frauded purchaser ! This evaporation of the water from 

 the honey by the heat of the hive, is about the only marked 

 change that it appears to undergo, from its natural state in 

 the nectaries of the blossoms ; and it is exceedingly interest- 

 ing to see how unwilling bees are to seal up honey, until it 

 is reduced to such a consistency that there is no danger of 

 its souring in the cells. They are as careful as to the quali- 

 ty of their nectar, as the good lady of the hoase is, to have 

 the syrup of her preserves boiled down to a suitable thick- 

 ness to keep them sweet. 



Let all who for any purpose whatever, feed bees, keep 

 this fact in mind, and never add to the food which they 

 give them, more water than is absolutely necessary. To do 



